Equilibrium
by Blackfire 18
Summary: Blackfire of Tamaran is born without any power that has naturally blessed all of its people. But perhaps there is another wayhow far will she go for her birthright? Thank you all for your reviews. Enjoy the conclusion
1. And then there was Blackfire

Equilibrium  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, nor Blackfire, though she ROCKS!  
  
It was her sister that received the power. It was her sister that received the love and admiration of the people. It was her darling little sister that caused her pain and tribulation.  
"Starfire." She spat the name from her mouth in utter revulsion. There she was, hardly eight revolutions in age and bouncing on father's lap like the little cherub she was. Mother was there too, and both of their attention was spent raptly on their youngest daughter, while she, the eldest, remained withdrawn and lethargic; hidden in shadow. She was only a bystander of this family; she had been no more a part of it than the moment she had been born. Her mere existence was a mockery of justice or equality. She was powerless. She would have given anything, even sold her soul for the power her lineage possessed. Her ability to fly, the power to harness the bolts used to protect their world, her birthright. All of them-had been bestowed upon her sister's tiny, incompetent shoulders.  
Her hands clenched into clawed fists, even behind the fold she kept tightly abreast her chest; her knuckles cracked with the action. Her eyes widened slightly as she froze, her mother glanced sharply in her direction. Her father, nor little sister seemed to notice. The Queen regarded her daughter with soft brown eyes, portraying her sadness. Blackfire could have sworn she saw an unbidden tear roll down the Queen's delicate cheek. Blackfire smirked, glaring hatefully at her mother, before her face pulled into the tight frown she had become so accustomed to.  
You pity me now, mother? She gritted her teeth, unconsciously grinding them in simpering silence. Her lips curled back into a snarl. Save your tears. I need them not.  
With that, she turned her back to her kindred and stalked away. Blackfire began to set the long, winding course to her chambers, and then thought better of it. There was nothing there but painful memories and broken promises. Instead she turned for the gate toward the East wing. With nothing to occupy her but her pacing feet, she returned to the thoughts that had plagued her in the throne room.  
She had no authority and she would not rule. Her potential had been dashed ever since the little wretch had been born. She had persuaded her parents to further her knowledge in combat, to possess some skill that would perhaps be of use to them. Their lack of enthusiasm insulted her, but they yielded to her demands and she persevered to the top of her fighting class and aspired with impossible swiftness, learning nearly all styles on her home planet. She continued her training with other mentors in other worlds, arranging a flight pattern since she had been denied the right-at the same age her sister was now. She recalled one return home and receiving a greeting almost immediately from her little sister.  
  
"Blackfire! I have missed you, sister!" Starfire cried embracing her older sibling. Blackfire pet the girl's head briefly and drew away. She knelt before her sister, leaning in close to her face.  
"I learned something really cool," Blackfire smiled wryly, glancing around and lowering her voice, "do you want to see?" The little red-head nodded enthusiastically. "Just remember: You asked for this." Her little sister opened her mouth to inquire her sister's meaning when her right wrist was seized and twisted behind her back. In one fluid motion, Blackfire caught up her sister's arm, shoved a knee into her spine and smashed her to the ground. Starfire saw blackness edge in her vision and cried out in pain and terror as she tasted something liquid and metallic in her mouth. She screamed and the weight on her body lifted. The red-haired girl sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. When she opened them her sister was gone and her mother and father rushed to her side.  
Tears sprang into the girl's eyes suddenly and she sobbed as her mother picked her up and examined her face.  
"What happened?" she asked frantically. "Who did this to you?"  
"B-Blackfire-" she choked, and her father roared her sister's name. Her mother swept away from the room and placed the young girl into her chambers. "Mother, why is Father so angry?" she asked, smearing her tears away to gaze up at her mother with wide green eyes.  
"I am sorry, my darling, but your father and I must speak with your sister."  
With that her mother left. Starfire sat a moment alone, and could not help the curiosity that seized her. She crept from her room and hid close to the throne room entrance, settling behind a tiny tree that her mother had insisted be placed in the hall. Concealed in the bush, she could see both ends of the hall at once and she eagerly awaited her sister's arrival, for it was not the first time Blackfire had been pushed along this corridor to face her parents. She did not have to wait long to see her sister being prodded forward by two burly guards. As Blackfire neared, Starfire saw an intensity in her sister's eyes that she had never seen before. Her entire face seemed to radiate this feeling that Starfire did not understand. What did it mean? Her elder sister's gaze passed over her Starfire's hiding place, but years of combat had sharpened her eyes. The intensity amplified, and Starfire found it difficult to breathe.  
"Snitch." Blackfire snarled hatefully behind curled lips. Starfire drew away, melting under her sister's glare. The moment passed, and Starfire felt air returning slowly to her lungs. She panicked. Should she leave, or was her sister lying in wait to lash out at her again? Starfire paused for a moment, and she had turned to leave when voices rose above the hall. "It is not of my concern!" -her sister.  
"It is all of your concern, you are her older sister and should be there to set an example!"  
"What example am I to set when I have no prestige as it was?"  
A pause, then thumping footsteps.  
"We are not finished here, young lady-"  
"But I am!"  
Blackfire stormed out of the throne room, past her sister, past the guards, who feared to stop the princess on her warpath, past the servants, and finally out the door, which she brutally assailed open enough to hear the hinges squeal in outcry. 


	2. On the Edge

Equilibrium Chapter 2  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans.  
  
"We are not finished here, young lady-"  
  
"But I am!"  
  
Blackfire stormed out of the throne room, past her sister, past the guards, who feared to stop the princess on her warpath, past the servants, and finally out the door, which she brutally assailed open enough to hear the hinges squeal in outcry.  
  
"That had been quite the eventful evening," Blackfire mused to herself, smiling. It had taken seven suns for her family to find her again. And when they finally found their daughter, conveniently lounging on Altara Prime with a stolen aircraft, she had grown quite thin and considerably leaner. She had recalled smiling smugly up at her father and mother.  
  
"I have completed my training."  
  
Had been all she had said to them. They had gawked at her, speechless, but put up no fuss as their eldest daughter lead them back to their ship. Nevertheless she returned home and received her just punishment for harming her younger sister and leaving the palace in her outburst. The experience still angered her until this very day and her thoughts returned again to her younger sibling.  
  
Starfire.  
  
The one who could do no wrong. The archangel. Starfire was the model Tamarin in everything she did. So what did that leave Blackfire?  
  
Blackfire sighed wearily, suddenly overcome with fatigue. What did that leave her?  
  
Suddenly, she heard it. A beautiful voice in glorious golden tremors, rose above her, around her, through her. Blackfire lifted her head and her gaze drew to the window she stood before. The sun had begun to set and the sky had blazed to a pink-orange glow. A soft breeze had picked up around the Xenthe forest. The forbidden forest. Blackfire's interest had always been drawn to the forest, but she had never taken the time to investigate its depths. Her curiosity plagued her now and she could do little to suppress the urge to venture out into the mysterious flora. After a quick glance over her shoulder, Blackfire took hold of the stone walls and swung her legs over the ledge so that they were out into the open air. With a small grunt, she vaulted from the wall and landed next to some dark green shrubbery. Acronias shrubbery. She stifled the urge to cry out as the plant shot long, sharp thorns, in every direction to protect itself.and a divert possible intruder. Blackfire stumbled away from the plant but could not avoid some of the quick thorns which tore into her forearm. She grit her teeth and pulled the thorns from her arm, stepping far enough away from the Acronias that it withdrew its extended spikes and returned to its harmless façade. Blackfire glared at the plant and massaged her arm which had begun to bleed. She silently cursed the Acronias Shrub and quickly skimmed the horizon with her eyes. Her path clear, Blackfire raced to the forest where she had last heard the singing voice.  
  
* * *  
  
Unfortunately, the voice Blackfire had heard seemed to have other items to attend on its agenda, for it had vanished. She meandered along the edge of the forest aloofly, weaving every now and then into the towering trees. The Xenthe forest was nothing extraordinary; it was like any other forest she had seen. There were no unusual sounds or strange undergrowth to gander at, nor were there any creatures to be seen. The farther she walked, the more disinterested she became.  
  
Blackfire sighed. She had already made up her mind to abandon the woodland when a shimmer caught her eye. The raven- haired girl paused in her stride and took a cautious step back toward the sparkling surface; her interest rekindled at last. It was a pool. The Pool of Exile. Blackfire gulped and could feel her knees buckle as her heart quickened two-fold. The most wicked and vile of her ancestry had been forsaken here, left to die alone in the wilderness. It had been all forest in the distant past, but her expanding people had begun to slowly cut away the resources and cultivate the land. The Pool was so near her home!  
  
Blackfire felt torn. She had heard the tales. Men and women had come to the Pool of Exile and were said to never have returned. The stories were all alike. The exiled would rise up from the pool, or the visitors would fall in-either way, the visitor would die a gruesome death and the ancestor would claim their revenge fulfilled and continue on to the next world.  
  
Her instinct was warring in her to run, but her curiosity was winning her over. On the one hand, she could leave and have the image of the Pool forever burned into her mind, the forever lingering memory behind her closed, sleepless lids and never know what it had held. On the other, she could, quite possibly, meet with her ancestors and perhaps, the goddess willing, find why they had been exiled. Surely they would be just as intrigued to meet their great-granddaughter or great-niece almost as much as she was to them. But was it all worth running the risk of death?  
  
Blackfire stood, quite unsure of what action to take when it came again. The voice. The beautiful voice she had heard from the palace rising and falling in its hauntingly exotic melody. It drew her to the Pool and Blackfire could do naught but comply. She moved, half-entranced, and finally knelt beside the legendary Pool of Exile. With trembling lips and quivering arms, she craned her neck to peer over the edge. A face was coming into view, just as slowly as hers-adrenaline built in her chest, traveling to each limb and her heart pounded in her ears, deafening her on what should have been a still evening.  
  
She gazed into the pool and saw no one but herself. She stared at the reflection in confusion, but the image did not reflect her puzzlement. Her eyes moved about the figure, but the image did not even waver. She lifted her right hand over the water. The reflection did not move. Gathering courage, she stretched her fingers outward, reaching for the depths of the stagnant pool. The tips of her fingers had almost touched the image when the reflection of herself parted her lips and sang. The voice! The voice was issuing from her reflections' throat. Blackfire jolted away as if bitten. Her eyes widened briefly before they narrowed. What trickery was this?  
  
But the entrancing tremors rose in her ears and she slackened her taut muscles. She moved over the edge of the pool again and saw that her image had placed its open palms to the surface of the pool; singing softly in encouragement. Blackfire nodded her understanding and slowly placed one palm, flat on the pool itself where her image's palm was. It held firm. Blackfire gazed at the pool in amazement and mimicked the movement with her other palm. Her reflection drew forward to the surface, as if to examine Blackfire more closely. Blackfire moved forward as well, closer and closer, until she was almost nose to nose to herself. A quiver seized her spine and shook through her body. She closed her eyes. Shuddering in ecstasy of the voice, she fell forward and collapsed entirely into the pool.  
  
* * *  
  
Author's Note: I want to amend myself for the first chapter (as I did not leave an author's note): I do love Starfire! She is my favorite of the Titans (and Raven ranks a close second), but I love Blackfire more, and I had to step into her boots and think like her. Blackfire has a fierce animosity toward her sister and I had to feel it to write it! Much thanks to all who have reviewed and I hope that you all will again! Oh! And just as a note anything inside are thoughts/Italics, since Fanfiction.net is weird about that. 


	3. Nowhere is Now Here

Equilibrium Chapter 3  
  
AN: Ah, I know its short, but this is all I could compose in such little time. I do so solemnly swear to update in the next two days and it will be much longer, but for the time being, please quench your thirst on this little piece! Read and review please!  
  
Disclaimer: I still don't own the Teen Titans.  
  
She was suspended in oblivion, all around her was a dark glow and what looked to be like frozen water droplets; but it felt like flying. She was soaring, so light, so weightless. This was how it should be. Her birthright.  
  
Blackfire's chest suddenly convulsed in a spasm of hatred and pain, her breath caught in her throat, her pulse quickening with the flush of anger. Her hands balled into fists and her eyes shut tightly as she forced herself to calm, and pacified the rash emotion with the blissful thought of near flight. The sensation passed and her eyes opened; she was flying, it was as close to flying that she had ever known.  
  
Her family did not appreciate this, this sheer liberty. This freedom was overlooked by all of her kin, all of her blessed kin, for they had known no other life. But she knew better. She knew otherwise. There was nothing to hold her back, the pull of the planet was a distant dream and no longer an enemy. There were no chains to lay hold of her in this place.  
  
Blackfire shut her eyes to the void; she did not care if she were to hover here forever. She was free! A burst of air rippled through her hair and blew gently across her skin. She shivered in the odd draft. And quite unexpectedly, she could feel something snatch and tug her roughly just below her ribcage. She inhaled sharply at the intrusion and it took a moment for her to realize she was being pulled forward toward a light at a point in the nothingness. She clawed frantically at the empty air, striving to gain purchase and halt the force from taking her from this place, but all of her efforts were in vain as she descended inevitably downward.  
  
Blackfire shattered the surface of the pool in an explosion of water and air as she was thrown unceremoniously onto the firm, unforgiving earth, landing hard on her side. She rolled to her hands and knees and coughed, covering her mouth which was dusted with dirt. She quickly swiped her lips with the back of her hand, tasting an unsettling metallic liquid on her tongue and with a groan she stood shakily to her feet. One of her joints cracked in its place and the muscles in her side screamed in protest at the movement. Ignoring the smarting pain in her hip, she dusted off her soiled clothing; Blackfire raised her eyes to survey her surroundings and was met with a shock. She was home.  
  
* * * 


	4. The Aunt that Never Was

Equilibrium Chapter 4  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans!  
  
Her mind was whirling with explanations and bewilderment as she assessed what had happened. Yes, she appeared to be still at the edge of the pool, but the palace was in plain sight, as if it—or the pool—had decided to move closer. The light of what should have been early evening had faded to an unsettling shade of crimson and there was not a sound to be heard. A panic rose in her throat as a solution came to mind: She had been pulled in. The Pool of Exile had taken her and now she stared down the hostile face of death. What could she do? What could be done? It was impossible to escape the pool once it has claimed its quarry. She was trapped.  
  
Would anyone notice her absence? Would her family care that she had disappeared? Would they send a search party to investigate her departure? Probably not. They had their precious daughter. Their precious Starfire. A snarl arose from her lips. Even now, Blackfire could feel nothing but hate for her sister. A delicate chortle reached her ears and Blackfire spun to greet her assailant.  
  
"We are so similar, you and I."  
  
The raven-haired girl gawked at the intruder in awe and wonder. This was the owner of the voice! The voice that had lured her from the palace in the first place. A woman, perhaps no older than twenty revolutions, stood before her. Blackfire's jaw dropped considerably farther as she gazed upon the face. She had seen this countenance before—this woman's likeness in an image, somewhere, but Blackfire could not place it. The woman could have easily passed for an elder version of Blackfire with a cool, composed tone, witty demeanor, and a hint of icy disposition to match. She was very striking; raven tresses fell delicately past trim shoulders, curling slightly inward at the ends. Her elegant garnet coloured attire tightly accented her features as slender arms rose to cross before her. Such guise and decorum suggested that this woman was of royal heritage. Her fine, painted lips always seemed to be pressed into a bitter smile, as they were now. "Very much alike. I have been expecting you, but you came later than I had hoped."  
  
It took Blackfire a moment to gather her wits about her and voice the inquiry that most pressed her mind.  
  
"Who...who are you?"  
  
The woman raised a pencil-thin eyebrow as her lips curled into a cruel smile. She took a step toward the young girl; her glossy, dark hair swayed beautifully behind her. Her chin rose in pride as she drew herself up to her full height.  
  
"I am sister to the Queen, Fayetilfire."  
  
"...Wh-what?" Blackfire stuttered in disbelief. "The Queen's sis—Mother's...but she has never spoken of..."  
  
"Ah yes," the woman sighed dramatically, "I would deem it rational that my darling baby sister would not have spoken of me to any of the children, so I could see where that would come as quite a shock for you, my beloved niece."  
  
Blackfire's eyes widened as she forced her mouth to clap shut, a recollection of a moment in time returning to her at last. She had seen this face on the palace wall, in a chamber she had been forbidden to enter. Blackfire had entered the room just to spite her parents and she was not disappointed. There were many aging artifacts of the old world, most of them locked away to keep them from falling into the wrong hands. Blackfire mused over an oddly fashioned relic for a moment, what wrong hands were there left to fall into? Curiosity had always been a fault of hers, and she could not resist reaching out to touch the craft. A sharp flash of bright light flew across her eyes and she froze. Maybe she would leave this unusual object be. She continued further into the highly arched room, marveling at the silly little trinkets and other unfamiliar odds and ends of the ancients. Blackfire had paused before a vast portrait of a beautiful woman all in crimson. Her face was very lovely, but she had held such a piercing expression; her delicate eyebrows tilted down grimly, her lips pressed into a taut frown, as if she had every cause to hold a great loathing for the world around her. Her eyes held a terribly fierce capacity, Blackfire could feel her eyes burn to behold it. The smoldering fury raging in the woman's eyes seemed incomprehensible to anyone but herself. Blackfire felt a strange connection to this woman, whoever she was, and the image was committed to her memory and stored away as two guards (the same from the assault of her sister and eventual recapture), stormed in and propelled her none too pleasantly out the door.  
  
Blackfire's eyes narrowed slightly in hesitance toward a particularly interesting blade of grass. "Perhaps not as surprising as you think."  
  
Fayetilfire's smile faded somewhat and her eyes widened faintly in interest. "I see."  
  
An uncomfortable silence, perhaps more awkward for the raven-haired girl than the woman, ensued. Blackfire could not hold her aunt's rigid gaze and reluctantly cast her eyes downward. The intensity grew, drilling into Blackfire's forehead. She swallowed hard, heatedly thinking of any possible way to dispel it.  
  
"You poor child," Fayetilfire's fair voice issued around Blackfire's being and teased a soft lull around her ears, imploring that she look up. When Blackfire refused, a ringing resounded deafeningly in her ears as reprisal for ignoring its presence. She glanced up unwillingly. Shadows seemed to lurch over her aunt's face as she neared the raven-haired girl. Blackfire felt a great discomfort as well as a calming ease at Fayetilfire's approach. She was unsure whether to trust the woman or run from her. Unfortunately, she did not get the chance to decide, as her aunt stood quietly before her. Fayetilfire gently brushed her knuckles beneath Blackfire's chin, tilting her niece's head upward. Blackfire shuddered at the action, a tremor climbing her spine. Her aunt's ardent eyes met hers. She paused with her lips parted slight to study her niece's face. "I can see it in your eyes." Her voice dropped to a despairing undertone. "You have been denied."  
  
Blackfire looked up at her aunt in utter torment. Words could not describe how the young girl felt. Emotions flooded her in a fleeting swirl of color and sensation; amazement, admiration, alarm, hate, bitterness, fright, remorse. She was finding it incredibly difficult to breathe, the edges of her vision were fading, and her body quaked beneath her in instability. She could sense her aunt move deftly to her side as she fell forward and catch her in open arms. The woman gently lowered the both of them to the earth, kneeling and sitting back, allowing the minor to lean in the crook of her neck. She murmured words of encouragement to her niece and smoothed her dark, silky hair. Her palm tenderly stroked along Blackfire's shoulder- blades and the touch sent prickles of awareness through the girl's skin.  
Blackfire shut her eyes tightly, a memory playing behind closed lids.  
  
The raven-haired girl arrogantly ignored the personage behind her, feigning aloofness as she always had toward this woman. Sitting on the edge of the windowsill, Blackfire gazed out onto the Tamaranian Plain, trees waved in the distance as the creatures of the Setting crept from their nests and burrows into the open air. She gazed intently on a pretty little shetza, a bird of prey that hunted after the Setting, soaring on the wind. Blackfire longed to exchange realities with the creature, lifting and falling on the breeze, free to wherever it would take her. Her gaze drew toward the sheer vertical drop of the palace wall. Perhaps if she fell just right—she could feel it, if only for a moment—  
  
"Daughter! Please do not lean so far outward. It frightens me."  
  
Blackfire sneered at the voice and did as she was told, but did not turn in its direction. The owner of the voice continued.  
  
"You know as well as I, that you cannot—"  
  
"Silence!" Blackfire snapped, whirling to face the figure. "I know of what I am incapable, you need not tell me time and time again!"  
  
Blackfire glared scornfully down at her mother, a venomous snarl pressing her lips back to expose pointed canines. The Queen lowered her eyes in apology, perhaps she had strayed too far into speaking on such a sensitive matter. "I hope that you will forgive me."  
  
Blackfire merely scowled in response and moved only to cross her arms over her chest and shift her cold gaze over her shoulder. The Queen took a step toward her daughter, determined to understand this child, for her child should not be a stranger to her. "Look at me." After a moment's resistance, Blackfire met her mother's gaze with eyebrows tilted downward. The Queen exhaled shakily; she had seen this expression on her elder sister's face many a time and it was startling to see on her own daughter's face. "It would be tactless of me to say that I can even begin to fathom what you feel," she began, a silent malice flickered in her daughter's eyes, "but I wish to understand, I wish to help you my child."  
  
"You could not possibly understand what it is like." Blackfire hissed bitterly, turning her eyes away.  
  
"Hush." Her mother commanded softly, her voice low and uneven as she slowly approached her daughter. "I would give anything, go any distance, and die for you a thousand times over to give you a second chance. No one deserves this...this isolation. I fell such mourning and pain for you, my child." Tears were forming in her eyes as well as Blackfire's, although the latter was trying fiercely to stop them from falling—she gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists; anything to stop herself from exposing this weakness. Her mother moved to stand before her and Blackfire could not draw away. "I weep for you every night, burdened by this loathing you feel for all of Tamaran and your kin because you have been denied." She fell to her knees before Blackfire, embracing her child as high as her arms could stretch. "I beg that you shall forgive me!"  
  
Genuine tears of agony and anguish streamed freely down Blackfire's cheeks as she knelt with her mother to embrace her in return. Blackfire felt a deep love for her mother in that instant as she cried into her mother's shoulder, racked with sobs and raw, uncontrolled emotion. The worries of the world seemed to fade away in that moment, and all that was left for them was the moment. Blackfire fantasized that this instant would miraculously change her views of the world, that there was indeed hope for her yet. Perhaps she would not be as reviled by her kin, perhaps they would accept her if the Queen...her mother could find a cause to love her as she was, for who she was, it would be enough for the people as well. Acceptance was perhaps, all she had ever hoped for.  
  
Her reverie shattered as a small voice broke through the sounds of the weeping woman and child.  
  
"Mother, sister, why are you crying?"  
  
Starfire stood uncertainly in the hall with her hands to her lips in wonder and fright to see her sister's tears, for her sister never cried. Starfire looked questioningly at her mother, confusion written across her brow. Her mother's expression faltered to that of concern for her youngest child and her hold on Blackfire unconsciously loosened and shrugged away. A sudden choking flare of heat rose in Blackfire. The motion was all the indication that Blackfire needed. She tore from her mother's grasp and stumbled away. She had become nothing again in the time of an instant. The true pride and joy and honor had returned, and Blackfire could feel the shadows descend over her once more. Her mother had chosen her little sister over her. Her notions to bettering her existence had been dashed and she realized that there was no hope for her; there was never hope for her, as long as her sister possessed her birthright.  
  
Blackfire's arms rose to her throbbing skull as she pressed the heels of her hands into her temples, agony burning like wildfire through her flesh. She could not stand to be there any longer. She fled the hall, her mother's anguished cry echoed down after her through the corridor.  
  
"Komand'r, wait!"  
  
AN: Whew! That chapter was a significantly long one! I still get the shivers when I read it over. Who knew that Blackfire had an aunt? (Oh, and pronounce her name exactly how it is spelled if you please! Faye-til-fire) The next chapter will be the final installment, but it is going to take me a little while to conclude as the next week will be a busy one for me. Expect the last chapter next Saturday or so. What will befall our young friend? Who is this strange aunt? Why had she never been mentioned before? And what has brought Blackfire inside the pool? Stay tuned. Thanks to all of those who have faithfully stuck with this story (you folks are so crazy!) and reviewed! Please continue to do so! 


	5. Her Birthright

Equilibruim  
Chapter 5  
  
Disclaimer: I STILL do not own the Teen Titans. But I do own Fayetilfire, ask before you use her—if ever. Thank you!  
  
Blackfire clutched at her aunt's gown, burying her face into her aunt's shoulder, trying to physically force the visions away from her eyes. Her own mother had betrayed her. The one who should have been the most understanding, the only one who had attempted to understanding. Her own mother.  
  
Blackfire's vision cleared gradually and she stood shakily to her own feet, drawing away from her aunt's embrace. She stared at Fayetilfire, her face emotionless.  
  
"I have." The raven-haired girl stated monotonously, "I have been denied, my birthright."  
  
Something clicked in her mind and Blackfire's eyes narrowed suddenly. Her eyes rounded on her aunt and she regarded her fastidiously. "Why are you here, within the Pool of Exile?"  
  
Fayetilfire stood warily, her dark eyes focused meticulously on her niece; her bitter smile was slowly returning. "My darling baby sister exiled me here." She shrugged impassively. "It was I, whom deserved the throne, and so we had a little...disagreement."  
  
Blackfire fell silent. The seed of trust was beginning to grow in her breast. Fayetilfire was Blackfire's twin soul in life. The both of them had had a sibling rivalry and for nearly the same causes. This woman was the mother that Blackfire had almost had that night her true mother had confessed her heart. It was true; Blackfire felt a love for her mother, but she felt such an opposite polarity when with her family...this woman gave her a strong feeling of companionship. Fayetilfire could comprehend her, could empathize with her obscure emotions.  
  
Her eyes drew to Fayetilfire's shoulder, where a moist stain dampened her aunt's gown. A burn of shame and embarrassment rose in Blackfire and she cleared her throat uncomfortably. Fayetilfire followed her niece's gaze, her eyes resting to the spent tears on her shoulder. Her eyes returned to look intently into the girl's. Her head tilted elegantly to one side.  
  
"You are ashamed?"  
  
Blackfire blinked once but made no reply.  
  
"You poor creature. They have made you believe it is impermissible to cry, to show any emotion." She paused. "Our kin has become more merciless than I recall."  
  
"Mercy is for the weak." Blackfire hissed scathingly. Her aunt gazed in shock at her niece. What have they done to this child? This girl was already twisted and broken and bitter, and at such a young age! She had not developed such terse emotions until she had realized that her younger sister would take the throne. She and her niece were much too similar than she was willing to believe. Was there no escaping this darkness that ran through her family? What was this world coming to? Fayetilfire could not help but feel a little guilt for this child, but then there was a conclusion. Fayetilfire did not birth this child, her sister had. The darkness ran through Luand'r as well, then. Fayetilfire was quite suddenly filled with a perverse pleasure. A cruel smile played at Fayetilfire's lips; there was hope for her yet.  
  
"I am afraid that I must agree. Mercy is for those too weak to seize control." Blackfire looked up at her smiling aunt in inquiry and surprise. It was as if her aunt had read her very mind. "But you are not weak, my young one, you are a sovereign. You will rule Tamaran, as it should be. Of that, I have no doubt."  
  
Blackfire could feel her eyes tearing and her lips trembling. This woman was her mother in every suitable and logical aspect. The feeling was there and Blackfire was not about to dismiss it. Fayetilfire was the mother she had always longed for, the mother she had always had by her side in her dreams. Joy swelled in Blackfire's throat and for a moment, she could not speak, fearful that even a breath of air could ruin this moment; a rightful mother at last.  
  
Fayetilfire coughed lightly into her fist and Blackfire mentally shook herself from her reverie. Fayetilfire's bitter smile had reappeared.  
  
Blackfire returned the bitter smile. "Why have you brought me here?"  
  
Fayetilfire's smile broadened to a satisfied grin. "I knew you were a clever girl." She motioned her niece to follow her and Blackfire complied. The two returned to the edge of the pool where Blackfire had arrived. Fayetilfire turned to face her niece once more.  
  
"Listen and listen well, Blackfire," her smile had vanished and she gazed sternly at her niece, "I give you a choice now and you must decide. I grow weary of this dwelling between reality and existence. I have long wished to pass on to the final resting place and I believe even my darling sister would understand."  
  
Blackfire immediately leapt to a defensive and guarded expression, her body tense. This had been in the stories, in all of the legends. The ancestors always wishing to move forward would ensnare a replacement for themselves, taking another life for their own to continue to the next realm. Her aunt could not be serious.  
  
"An eternity of oblivion is a heartless punishment and I seek liberation...my just deliverance. Will you aid me, my beloved niece?" Her eyes were pleading. Blackfire abruptly realized that she had absolute control over her aunt's fate. The power gave Blackfire a cruel satisfaction as she could twist any pact to lean heavily in her favor. But what could her aunt possibly offer her—a word to her kin that they treat her with more respect? To set her on the throne as the reigning Queen via removal of all of her family members? Hardly. What other assets could her aunt afford to give in the center of oblivion?  
  
Fayetilfire seemed to sense her niece's thoughts as her ever-present, ever- bitter smile returned again. "I know what it is that you most want. Perhaps we could...strike a deal?"  
  
With that, Fayetilfire summoned the power that blessed all the Tamaranian people. Her palms upraised, rippling and pulsing with currents of glorious bolts of crimson power, her eyes vanishing in the pools of red that engulfed them. She lifted off the ground in regal composure and hovered effortlessly in the air. Blackfire's jaw dropped. The power. Of course! After years of hopeless dream and yearning, the power of the Tamaranian people would finally be hers! This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, a never-to-be-repeated moment, and Blackfire knew the answer to her dear aunt's proposal immediately thereafter. She was unsure if she could retain this feeling that flooded her entire being. She closed her eyes and trembled in utter elation, a quiver racking her body.  
  
Fayetilfire settled to the ground upon seeing her niece's expression, releasing her power. A look of triumph passed her slightly ruffled features. Blackfire slowly opened her dark eyes.  
  
"You have a deal."  
  
Was all Blackfire could manage to say.  
  
"Very well." Fayetilfire nodded blithely to her niece, a new emotion had crept into her cool voice. "But in exchange for my life force, the power you receive shall be cursed." Fayetilfire studied her niece's expression swiftly, careful to watch for any indication of concern or distress. Her niece did not stir. "By accepting this power, you shall suffer this fate," she motioned about herself to the darkness, "you shall be kept in this prison, in this oblivion, until your power be passed on."  
  
Blackfire could not help the smile that curled her lips.  
  
"Do you understand?"  
  
"I do."  
  
Fayetilfire smiled a genuine smile. "Then Blackfire, my darling niece, I bestow upon you my power." She held out her palms, facing up in open invitation. An expression Blackfire could not read, creased her aunt's brow and a dark glint flickered across her eyes. Blackfire approached her aunt, trembling in excitement and anticipation. The raven-haired girl stretched out her arms, her hands open to accept the gift which was rightfully hers. She shut her eyes, she could not stand it. Her dream had become a reality. Her dream had become a reality at long last! Blackfire breathed deeply and released the breath, then clasped her aunt's hands.  
  
* * *  
  
AN: Ok, I lied. There will be one more installment. (I wrote more than I thought I would...) How dare I leave another cliff-hanger?? You all can still expect the last chapter during the weekend. In the mean time, maul over a possible outcome to this story and Enjoy! 


	6. At Long Last

Equilibrium  
Chapter 6  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans, or Blackfire, Starfire or Luand'r. But I do however own Fayetilfire! *grins all around*  
  
The raw energy and power coursed through Blackfire, twisting and writhing its way into her skin, into her soul. Pain seared across her flesh as if an electric storm were striking her over and over. Her lungs seemed to tighten in hopes of choking her and halting the shocking transference as her ribs compressed tightly, her shoulder-blades had begun to ache—cramped in the uncomfortable constriction. A scream crept up her throat but she held it back with what little control she had, for her aunt's life-force was wresting all of her strength from her.  
  
The tendrils of power wriggled with agonizing slowness through her muscles, working its way down all of her limbs. A light exploded behind Blackfire's eyes and she swooned under the pressure that had built beneath it. Her legs began to buckle under the creeping velocity; Blackfire struggled not to succumb to the burden. She fiercely clenched her jaw and ground her teeth in stubborn diligence.  
  
Her hands were suddenly released and she clenched them instinctively into fists to contain the life-force. Her finger-nails dug into her palms so severely that they had begun to bleed; her knuckles as white as a newborn sleet cat. Beads of sweat streaked down her face, for she was beginning to tire. An impression on her forehead, which Blackfire could barely decipher as fingers, pressed firmly into her brow. A piercing scream reached Blackfire's ears, but she was not sure if it was she who had shrieked or her aunt. The pressure on her forehead lifted and a sickening thump shook Blackfire to the marrow of her bones.  
  
Dazed and fatigued from the endeavor, Blackfire stood shuddering in the cool night air. Her eyes cracked open slowly, a hum resounding in her ears. The raven-haired girl raised a hand to massage her temples to ease the pain and proceeded to rub the weight from her eyes. When her vision had finally cleared and the ringing in her ears had died down, Blackfire saw that her aunt lay motionless at her feet. Fearing the worst, Blackfire bit her lower lip unconsciously and knelt beside her relative.  
  
"A-aunt Fayetilfire?" her voice was raspy and hoarse in her dry throat. When her aunt did not respond, Blackfire felt a burning sensation sweep her body. This woman had been the closest entity to a mother Blackfire had ever known. Pain seared through her mind and a hot anger flashed across her dark eyes. Her aunt had warned her, but Blackfire had not expected such an abrupt conclusion. This was hardly fair! Fayetilfire should have been left another course of action, but the only choice she had of escape was that of death.  
  
Blackfire's hands balled into fists and a light shrouded her vision. Heat rippled through her as a strange gust of tepid wind wafted around her face, swirling her raven hair across her shoulders and back. Her hands grew uncomfortably warm and everything in her line of vision had an odd purple aura around it. Her feet felt peculiar, there was no pressure on her legs; her weight seemed to have vanished. It was as if...as if she was no longer on the ground. Blackfire gazed down to see that she was several arm lengths in the air. In alarm, Blackfire involuntarily released her hold on the new- found power and she faltered in mid-air. Panic seized her for an instant and she called upon the feeling she had felt only a moment before, and then she had it again.  
  
A chuckle rose in her throat and she released it, not caring if anyone heard. The chuckle mounted to a hysterical laughter that echoed across the dark abyss. Without thinking, Blackfire shifted her focus on her motions to push her into a summersault, then a spin, then a barrel-roll—each movement more fluid and nimble than the last. Oh, what a joy it was to fly! To soar in an endless sky with naught but the wind to your back and the air rushing past your ears, with not a care in the world! Did her fellow Tamaranian's truly appreciate this pure bliss? Certainly not. They had all been born with this power; had all taken advantage of this force. She and only she could possibly comprehend the ultimate rapture that it gave the holder.  
  
She abruptly observed that the crimson light of her aunt had altered to a deep violet in her hands. This power belonged to her now. It was as if she had always possessed it, as if nothing had been different otherwise. It felt so right. Finally, there was something that she herself could claim her own. And it was not even a little something; this was the power of the Tamaranian people. It was hers at last. Had it not been for her curiosity...for her stumbling upon the Pool...had it not been for her aunt...  
  
Blackfire gently released her power and touched lightly to the earth, her eyes falling upon the body that lay at rest there. She humbly knelt beside her deceased aunt and placed a chaste kiss of gratitude upon her sleek brow. With one last look for her aunt, Blackfire returned to the Pool, no longer so foreboding, but more an object of welcome. She knelt by its edge and placed her palms on the surface as she had before. She closed her eyes and could feel the Pool accept her in its depths.  
  
The journey passed quickly this time around and Blackfire found herself standing on the shores of her home, gazing upward at the palace. The raven- haired girl released the power once more, to ensure it was not all just a wonderful dream she had had the gall to experience, but indeed the truth. With a satisfying whirr, the life-force ran down her arms swiftly and erupted into existence on her palms. Her eyes glowing the deep shade of purple she was already beginning to idolize, she lifted a triumphant gaze to the palace, her accustomed and welcomed smirk returning to curl the edges of her lips.  
  
You were right mother; I shall not deny this truth now. Everything in nature has a balance. A perfect balance. I realize now what mother nature has intended for me. I know my place. I thank her for that which she has left me. The Equilibrium.  
  
Blackfire dispelled her glorious power and set a path for home, the Tamaranian sun glaring crimson rays at her back.  
  
Fin.  
  
AN: To all of those who stuck with my story to the end and to all who reviewed: You have my utmost in gratitude. You can still review this chapter to tell me what you thought of the whole shebang and I will just love you all the more! I hope you all enjoyed my little tale and perhaps find more works to you liking I will post in the future. (And just as a side note, this story was greatly inspired by Loreena Mckennitt's "The Mystic's Dream".) So there you all have it. Thank you all again for your devotion (and admiration!)Thank you! 


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